419 - 427

Chapter 419: Trace (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

The parking lot was built on a black platform and had about ten flying mounts already resting on it. Some of the wizards were jumping off their mounts and servants appeared to take care of their eagles or bats.

Angele landed and he saw a humongous white owl landing on the left.

The red eagle took several steps forward to complete the landing procedure.

Angele patted the eagle's feathers and jumped off its body.

A male servant stepped forward and approached Angele.

"Master Green, it has been a while." The male servant bowed politely with a phony smile on his face.

Angele nodded slightly. "So many people here, what's going on?" He knew that those servants were familiar with the situation as they probably already heard something from the wizards who landed in the parking lot.

"They're here for the incident at the tomb. The wizards in the city are all talking about it," the servant responded in a low voice.

"How bad is the situation?" Angele wondered.

"Very bad. One of the professors that went missing was a relative of the second elder," the servant tried to make his voice even lower.

"Is that so…" Most of the wizards had left the parking lot and there were no other flying mounts coming from the sky. Angele greeted one of the wizards that he knew and threw a regular magic stone to the servant. "Go straight to the point."

"Thank you, master…" The servant chuckled and grabbed the magic stone quickly, hiding it in his sleeves. "A master wizard told me several days ago that the tomb is related to the Chaos Realm and he was worried that there might be a dimension gap, but I don't know anything about this Chaos Realm."

"Chaos Realm, huh…" Angele's brow furrowed, he was surprised by the servant's words.

The Chaos Realm was the strongest and most chaotic realm that the wizard world had encountered.

The creatures in that realm were all either as strong as the high-rank wizards or weak like ants. There was no time and space in the Chaos Realm, everything was chaotic.

Wizards never tried to communicate with the Chaos Realm. It was possible that a wizard could only find a weak boar after paying a huge price.

However, the weak boar might evolve into a creature that could destroy the world the next day and the next time you communicated with the "boar", your soul and physical body would be taken away. Wizards could only do the trade when the target was at the similar power level to them.

That was the reason why the realm was called the Chaos Realm. Time, space, and everything in that realm was a mess.

You might be able to communicate with a creature that had lived for more than 50 million years ago or a living being that was born 100 million years ago.

The Chaos Realm was the strongest realm that the wizards had encountered; however, the creatures in the Chaos Realm were trapped in it and they could not invade the other realms. It seemed like whoever created that realm did not want the creatures to impact the other realms.

Most of the creatures that lived the realm had lost the ability to think.

Angele checked the information in the database and left the parking lot. He put the badge of department head on his chest and headed to the gate of the city.

The guards bowed to Angele as he passed through the gate and the square. He walked straight to the city hall.

There were three white statuses on top of the building: Eagle, Lion, and Scorpion. The scorpion status was surrounded by a black glow and it meant that an honored professor had passed away.

The black glow would last for half a month.

Angele looked at the scorpion—it was the symbol of the academic tower, which they normally called the school. It was under Vivian's control.

"So, the situation is much worse than I expected…" He sighed slightly.

"Master Green! You're here!"

"Department head!"

"Master Green!"

"Green, long time no see."

Angele's colleagues and staff of the department greeted him as he stepped on the stone stairs.

Angele smiled to show his respect. He did not really need to do anything in the department and that was the reason why the colleagues liked him. Angele had a strong background and the wizards would love to become friends with him.

He entered the building and went upstairs. Angele walked along the hallway for about ten minutes and finally arrived at a white building that was used by the Human Resource department.

Several wizards knocked on the door and reported in as he sat down in his office.

Angele played with the gold badge in his hand and looked at two white robes in front of him. The one on the left was male and the other one was female; they looked young, but they were already over 50 years old. The female wizard was married and had one child.

"Jack, Wendy. So, how's the situation?" Angele straightened his back and there was a blank expression on his face.

The male wizard named Jack nodded. "It's about the tomb—there are several members of the Human Resource department missing; they were in charge of the archives."

Angele's brow furrowed. "The archives? They entered the tomb to record the exploration?"

"Yes, well, it's an easy job and most of the time we're not busy; however, we do need to work when something important happens," Wendy responded in a low voice. "Also, you're the vice department head, so…"

Angele rubbed his chin and he knew that the incident had become a big problem. The members of the department were selected by Vivian and some of them went missing during the exploration, so he had to do something for them. Also, the academic tower was directly under Vivian's control, which meant it was closely related to Angele.

"Alright, what's happening now?"

Jack answered, "The department head has already contacted the academic tower and they sent another group of people into the tomb; however, they didn't find anything. It felt like that those people have already disappeared from this world, even the tracking spells can't detect any trace of them. The specialists with the tracking spells are coming and they'll investigate the tomb again."

"How long did the first investigation last?" Angele questioned.

"About half a month," Jack replied. "However, nothing happened during that period."

"Who's in charge of this now?"

"The department heads of the city hall. We lost a lot of wizards this time, so we're pretty much in charge of the investigation," Wendy explained.

"Where's master Masha? Her vacation is over, right? Also, what about master Henny? They're the only two rank 4 wizards in my department." Angele wondered.

"Master Henny is on his way back and the second investigation will be led by master Masha. Also, the academic tower will send another rank 4 wizard here to help solve the problem. The incident already impacted the academic tower a lot," Wendy replied.

"Alright, you can leave now. I need to think about this." Angele waved his right hand.

"Yes, department head." They bowed, left the room, and closed the door.

Angele sat in his chair with his eyes narrowed.

'I can only use the Sound of the Knell 30 times a day or my body will collapse. I can use my free time for other things; the noise made by the technique can only be heard by myself so I can practice anywhere I want. Also, I don't think the others can find out what I'm doing."

It was nearly impossible for a normal wizard in the main world to recognize a secret technique from the Nightmare Realm. With the help of the Sound of the Knell, Angele's mentality was increasing every day and it had reached 200.

The only thing he needed was time—it would take him around two hours every day to practice the Sound of the Knell and it was not a problem to him.

'The main problem with the incident is the mysterious tomb. Maybe it's actually related to the Chaos Realm.' Angele had experienced the Nightmare Realm, Oblivion Realm, and the Fairy Realm. However, the information of the Chaos Realm he had was acquired from the books.

'The realms are unstable right now and it's possible for the Chaos Realm to contact the wizard world. I shall go to the tomb and take a look by myself.'

If Angele was lucky, he could get his hands on the bloodlines of the creatures in the Chaos Realm and they might aid him greatly.

That was Angele's true intention.

'The leader will be Masha this time, a rank 4 wizard of the academic tower, and there'll be several rank 3 wizards. Also, the tracking spell masters… Although no one has the Legacy Magic Circle here, it's still a strong force, and they can solve most of the problem.'

Although Angele's mentality increased greatly, it was still lower than the mentality a rank 4 wizard had. In other words, with the increased mentality and stage 4 Molten Core River, he could survive longer in a fight against a rank 4 wizard.

However, if he could activate the true form, with the help of the Legacy Magic Circle set, Angele would be able to win a fight against a rank 4 wizard who had not reached his full potential.

The Sound of the Knell would not only strengthen his physical body, it would also improve his true form, especially the magic resistance.

Sadly, Angele could not activate the true form in the main world.

Chapter 420: Investigation (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele sat by the table and tried to figure out a valid plan after the two wizards left. He checked the files explaining the procedure of the investigation that piled up on his table.

The files were full of vivid images that looked like they were taken with a camera. It was a special spell that was used to help the reader understand the information.

Angele's brow furrowed after reading the files for a while.

One of the images, he noticed that there were three white runes on a wall of the tomb, which formed a triangular rune circle.

A rune circle that looked familiar to Angele.

"It's not the Chaos Realm…" Angele closed the files. "I need to head to the tomb."

He started thinking and comparing the data with the information that was stored in the biochip.

Seconds later, Angele pressed on the top right corner of the table.

"Wendy, bring the log of the big events that happened around the city in the last 100 years. There's something I want to check."

"Sure, department head," Wendy's voice came from the corner of the table.

Minutes later, the event log was delivered to Angele. There were more than 100 books in that pile, but it was only part of the complete log.

Angele had some food at the table and spent the whole day checking the log.

Angele finished reading the information by night and the department head finally came back from the meeting.

Angele contacted the department head and said that he wanted to join the second investigation.

The department head agreed with Angele's decision right away.

The new department head had a weak background, his power level was high and he was lucky during the election. The man did not communicate with Angele a lot, but he thought it should be fine if Angele joined the investigation team.

Angele stayed in the dorm behind the city hall for two days and the investigation team finally started moving.

　　**********************************

In a forest that was about ten kilometers away from the Mermaid's Song.

A white team was moving slowly among the vibrant green trees early in the morning.

The leader was a middle-aged female wizard with a short blonde hair. There was a solemn expression on her face, it seemed like she was taking the mission seriously.

There were about seven to eight people following after the female wizard.

Angele was also wearing a long white robe. There were three old wizards from the academic tower in front of him—they were masters of investigation—and four battle wizards that were selected by the city hall around them. They were all wearing white masks. It seemed like two of them were male and the rest was female judging by the look of their eyes.

"Finally, that's the place." The middle-aged female wizard stopped and turned her head around. She sent the orders to the four battle wizards using energy particles.

The battle wizards nodded their heads after hearing her.

"Masters, the investigation will be reported back by the representative of the organization, so…" The female wizard talked to the three masters in a low voice.

"We'll try our best." A bald old man nodded and responded in a deep tone, "That's all we can say, master Masha."

Masha nodded and her sight fell upon Angele. "Vice Department Head Angele, you don't have to join the investigation, it'll be fine if you return to the city and wait for the result. There are several rank 2 and rank 3 wizards in the team that went missing."

"And some of them worked for me. I'm interested in the ancient ruins and I won't give up this chance," Angele responded politely.

"Fine, let's move on." Masha nodded and increased her speed.

In the forest ahead, Angele could see the entrance to the tomb built in a white stone wall. There were two warriors wearing black glowing armor standing in front of the entrance.

Masha approached the two guards and acquired the access to the tomb.

The team entered the tunnel without saying a word.

Behind the entrance was an arched tunnel that was quite narrow. The visibility here was low as the glowing crystals on the walls were no longer working.

*CHI*

Masha raised her head and a white light ball appeared over the team, releasing some gentle white light.

Suddenly, the tunnel was brightened up.

By the end of the narrow tunnel was a black stone gate with a strange rune engraved on it. The rune looked like a life-size man with a rectangular object over his head.

There were words engraved inside the rectangular object in some mysterious language.

Masha was about to push the gate open.

"Wait," one of the old men suddenly spoke. He walked to Masha and observed the text on the gate. "The language seems familiar…" He rubbed the text lightly as white light flashed over the tip of his fingers.

"This language doesn't exist in the wizard world if I'm not mistaken," the old man said with confidence.

Angele recognized the language of runes right away as he saw the gate. He had seen similar characters in the underground tomb he'd found when exploring the Nightmare Realm. It was the most common language beside the universal ancient language. He thought the characters were just runes, but it seemed like they were characters of a certain language.

"Wizard Poll, there are a lot of similar characters inside." Masha nodded and pressed on the gate.

*BAM*

The gate slowly moved to the left, revealing the dark stone stairs leading to the tomb.

Masha raised her left hand and her ruby ring flashed.

Suddenly, the tunnel to the tomb was brightened up and there was dim yellow light coming from both walls.

"The last investigation team set up light magic circles here, we can use that," Masha explained.

Angele checked the interior of the tomb carefully.

The yellow light illuminated the tunnel and it felt like he was walking on a path to an underground palace, but the place was deadly silent.

"Let's save some time and head to the place where they were last seen. I've checked the data, this place is enormous and we don't have time to explore the whole thing," an old woman said.

The rest of the team agreed.

Masha led the team down the tunnel; they entered a golden hall after walking for about ten minutes. There were two more tunnels on both sides of the hall and a casket was sitting quietly in the center of the hall. Images of monsters killing each other were engraved on the walls.

Most of the monsters had the head of dogs or pigs, but their bodies looked identical to human beings.

They entered the tunnel on the left, walked down a long staircase, and passed through more than ten rooms. Masha finally stopped in front of a small stone chamber after a while.

"They disappeared after entering this stone chamber. Alright, do what you need to do."

The three experts nodded and entered the chamber. They took out enchanted items and magic materials to prepare. The battle wizards were checking the surroundings constantly.

Angele was looking at the strange pictures on the walls alone.

He rubbed the surface of the wall. It was smooth, clean, and cold.

Blue light flashed in front of Angele's eyes—he was scanning the pictures. It only took the biochip several minutes to scan all the pictures in the chamber.

Angele had no idea when he walked to the tunnel that would lead him to another stone chamber.

"Master Angele, please stay in my sight. It's a dangerous ruin and I don't want to face Elder Vivian's wrath." Masha suddenly turned her head around and spoke to Angele in a serious tone.

A gentle smile appeared on Angele's face.

"Sorry, master Masha, my bad."

The others thought that Angele was still a rank 2 wizard that was practicing the fourth stage of the Molten Core River. Although Angele advanced to rank 3 recently, the others would not be able to find out unless he decided to tell them himself. However, it did not matter if Angele was a rank 2 or rank 3 wizard, Masha was one of the strongest rank 4 wizards in the organization, and she cared about Angele because of Vivian.

Also, the difference between rank 3 and rank 4 was huge.

Angele returned to the original stone chamber and made it look like he was just glancing at the corners of the chamber.

Time passed. Several hours later.

*BOOM*

Suddenly, the tomb vibrated slightly, and dust from the ceiling dropped on the wizards' heads.

"Someone casted an Earth category spell above." Masha scrunched her brow, it seemed like she remembered something. "The defensive force field of the tomb was broken a long time ago and nothing is left now. If the tomb is impacted by a strong energy pulse, it'll collapse.

"Safety is important. Should we head to the entrance and take a look?" Masha looked at the three experts.

The three experts nodded their heads. "We can't get any results in such a short period of time. For now, let's go take a look," the bald man responded.

"Sure. Let's head up." Masha started heading to the entrance.

The others followed after her and Angele was the last one that moved. He tapped on the wall slightly before leaving and no one noticed his sneaky action.

The team returned to the entrance of the tomb using the same route as before.

One of the guards had already left—he went to check the source of the energy movement.

Masha looked at the other guard.

The guard lowered his head and explained, "Master, I think there are wizards fighting in a town around the area and the energy movement came from their spells."

"A town?" Masha knitted her eyebrow.

"Yeah, the town was built beside a Half Moon Stone mine about half a year ago. Many organizations created their branches in the town, including large organizations like the Wizard Guild and the Potion Master Guild."

"Half Moon Stone? I didn't know there was a Half Moon Stone mine here. Let's go check it out." Masha's expression changed, she turned around and headed toward the source of the energy movement.

Angele knew that the situation just changed. The Wizard Guild and the Potion Master's Guild were two of the strongest organizations, and the Half Moon Stone was a rare material that could be combined with high-quality magic stones to craft magic devices.

Masha was the strongest wizard in the team and she was assigned here by the organization as the head of the guards in the Mermaid's Song—she definitely had the authority to deal with something like this.

The three experts stayed by the entrance of the tomb to check the landscape of the area; there were three battle wizards protecting them. The last battle wizard followed after Angele and Masha to the town as a guard.

Chapter 421: Investigation (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

After several minutes of walking, the town with the Half Moon Stone mine appeared in front of the three.

On an empty lot beside the town, three groups of people were confronting each other—two of the groups were from the Wizard Guild and the Potion Master Guild. It seemed like the leaders of the groups were important members from their organizations.

The guard from the tomb was also here.

Masha walked to the guard as they arrived at the scene.

"We're members of the Elemental Hand, leave now if you don't want to die!" Masha glanced at the three groups with a cold expression on her face.

Angele's face twitched after hearing Masha's word. He did not expect Masha to be so aggressive in front of two large organizations. He thought that Masha would ask about the situation first.

The three groups of people knew that things just got worse after hearing about the Elemental Hand.

"Elemental Hand? We're the official members of the Wizard Guild and the members of the Potion Master Guild are also here. Are you trying to threaten two of the largest organizations in the central continent? That's how the Elemental Hand handles the situation?" the leader of the group from the Wizard Guild responded.

Masha sneered, "Yeah, that's what we're doing. You can go report me to the elder council or the White City Alliance, I don't care. Wizard Guild and Potion Master Guild, huh? You're standing on the land of Elemental Hand and I have the right to expel you from the area!"

"You just told us to leave for no reason. I know your war just ended and I'm sure your organization is much weaker than before," a wizard interrupted.

"Fool!"

Masha suddenly raised her hand and aimed at the wizard.

A twisted force field was released from her hand, turning into a translucent palm with a diameter of seven to eight meters.

People were all surprised, no one expected Masha's surprise attack.

Also, no one was fast enough to stop her.

The wizard patted his pouch anxiously and a yellow shadow that looked like a minotaur appeared beside him, creating a black energy barrier around his body... but that was all he could do.

The translucent palm hit the minotaur shadow hard.

*BOOM*

The shadow was destroyed within half a second and it failed to stop the palm.

Only a pile of meat sauce was left at the wizard's original location and a small pool of blood was formed on the ground. Also, Angele could see a bloody red palm print beside the blood pool.

Narrowing her eyes, Masha lowered her hand and licked her lips. "I'll count to three, if you don't leave now, you know what will happen… One!"

The representatives of the two large organizations were not sure how they should react to the situation.

"Two!"

"Whatever! This is not between us anymore. I'll report the situation to the Wizard Guild!" The representative of Wizard Guild opened his mouth. "Let's go!"

"Same here, this won't end peacefully!" The representative of the Potion Master Guild was enraged, he turned around and left.

Only one group of people was still there after the members of two large organizations left.

Masha's sight fell upon the last group of people.

"What're you waiting for? You know what you should do, right?"

"We… we'll leave now!" their leader shouted in fear.

Masha nodded with a satisfied look on face. She watched those wizards disappear into the forest.

She drew a rune in the air and red mist rose from the ground. It seemed like the mist would block the tracking spells of other wizards.

Masha turned around and looked at Angele after everything was done.

"Angele, do you have anything to say? I already made things easier for them as we still need to sign the contract. Usually, the thieves who steal the Half Moon Stone from our organization will be killed." Masha probably noticed that Angele was surprised at what she did but she was just following the rules.

There was a bitter smile on Angele's face. "Master Masha, I have nothing to say. You did the right thing." Although Angele still thought the woman was overdoing it, he decided to keep his opinion to himself.

Angele knew that Elemental Hand was famous for its aggressive way of handling things and it seemed like the rumors were all true.

Masha smiled. "How should we share the Half Moon Stone in the mine? I'll take half and you can take the rest, what do you think?"

"Well…"

"Let's just do that," Masha interrupted. "I'll inform the Watchers that half of the resource in the mine will be counted as yours. Alright, let's get back to the investigation."

"Sure." It seemed like Masha just took the mine and shared the resource with Angele generously. The half moon stones Angele acquired could be exchanged for more than 1000 crystal cards since there was more demand than supply in the market.

Masha shared the treasure with Angele because he was the only son of Vivian.

It seemed like the guard was not concerned as he did not say anything. Masha told him to get someone from the city to take care of the mine.

Angele followed Masha back to the tomb and returned to the stone chamber.

Food and drinks were delivered to them by the guards. They investigated the tomb for four days. The complicated magic circle set up by the experts was activated and strange red lines appeared above it.

The three experts observed the lines for two days, but they did not find any valuable information.

The traces were either overwritten or removed by an unknown force field and it was impossible for them to continue the investigation.

Masha decided to return to the city with the team and report the situation to the person sent by the headquarters.

　　***************************

Three days later…

In the evening.

It was deadly silent in the area around the tomb.

A dark shadow stepped out of the bushes—it was Angele, he came back after everything settled down.

He slowly walked to the tomb. A glowing purple rune circle appeared when he was about ten meters away from the entrance, illuminating Angele's black boots.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes; he advanced as he drew several red runes in the air. The purple rune circle was not activated as Angele walked through it.

Angele stood in front of the empty entrance of the tomb several minutes later.

The purple rune circle replaced the guards after the second investigation.

Angele glanced at the ground, crouched, and released some red light from his right hand.

A column of blue footprints appeared on the ground under the red light.

'Someone is one step ahead of me.' Angele shook his head and stood up. During the investigation, he noticed something strange in the tomb—it was related to the strange magic circle he'd found in the Nightmare Realm. He decided to explore the tomb alone as the magic circle had to be kept as a secret. However, it seemed like someone also found that out.

Angele lowered his body and entered the tomb.

The blue footprints were getting clearer and clearer under the red light—they led straight into the tomb.

Angele tapped on the pouch and a thin layer of translucent barrier appeared around his body. He then took out a black object that looked like an oil lamp and removed its lid.

Some black smoke spurted out of the lamp and merged into the darkness.

It was one of the strongest enchanted items he'd purchased from the market.

Angele had more than enough mentality to support two enchanted items and the talent abilities. After advancing to rank 3, he could control three different abilities at the same time.

He purchased a high-level enchanted item from the market after his mentality reached the standard. Although it was not a magic device, it could still block more than 100 degrees of damage for him.

Angele recorded the route using Zero during the investigation and he had no problem finding the way. However, it seemed like he and the blue footprints were moving to the same destination.

Angele knew something like this might happen after he detected the strange movement at the corner of the stone chamber.

Suddenly, intense waves appeared on the scorpion's barrier when he was trying to advance without making too much noise.

"Long time no see, Green, did you miss me?" A familiar female voice echoed in Angele's ears.

A sexy and mysterious woman appeared behind Angele. She was wearing a silky black dress, with long red hair reaching her waist. There was a pair of long silk gloves on her hands and a silver lightning-shaped badge on her chest. The woman did not change at all.

"Real air… feels so good…" The woman inhaled deeply and she looked satisfied. "It has been years since the last time I inhaled real air… I almost forgot how it feels…"

"Henn?" Angele was surprised, he quickly turned around. "When did you merge with the Thousand Shadow Orb? I thought you were not allowed to leave that thing."

"It's fine… here… in this tomb… I can feel the power that can help me move freely…" A gentle smile appeared on Henn's face. "Do you really think I want to share the life with you? Everything I did was for my own freedom."

Angele narrowed his eyes as he was not prepared for this sudden development. "So, there's something that'll aid you in this tomb? I only knew something was wrong with the place."

"Let's just keep advancing…" Henn was not speaking like a crazy old woman after absorbing the Thousand Shadow Orb, she jumped into Angele's body before Angele could say anything else.

*CHI*

They became one again.

A strange glow flashed in Angele's eyes. He turned around and started moving again.

Chapter 422: Unexpected (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele noticed that there fewer and fewer blue footprints on the ground as he advanced. It seemed like the stranger was checking the tomb and observing the corners quietly.

He slowed down and activated the stealth technique. He spent years improving the technique and it was more effective than before; it was the perfect technique to use at the moment.

Chilling wind was coming out of the area in the front and the smell of the mold permeated the air.

Angele slowed down his breathing and started advancing slowly. Seconds later, he arrived at the stone chamber they'd investigated earlier.

In the narrow stone chamber, a large magic circle appeared on the left wall, and there was an egg-sized amethyst in the center of the circle.

A dark shadow was standing by the magic circle quietly and it almost looked like he merged into the darkness.

If Angele did not find something familiar about the man, he would not be able to detect him.

The man became one with the tomb and the mentality wave he released was barely noticeable. Henn stayed in Angeles' body for so long that Angele had the ability to detect soul forms under most circumstances.

Angele waited outside the stone chamber quietly and hid in the long back robe. He was also releasing minimum mentality wave.

Angele could control himself much better than before after he acquired the ability to transform into the true form.

With the help of the stealth technique, he also merged into the darkness.

It seemed like the black shadow was waiting for something, so Angele decided to be patient.

They were both trying to hide from each other.

Time passed. Two hours later.

Footsteps appeared by the entrance of the tomb again—although it was some light noise, Angele could still detect the mentality wave.

Angele and the black shadow both noticed the third person, they looked at the entrance at the same time.

In the dark tunnel of the tomb, a tall and slim shadow appeared from around the corner. The man's eyes were surrounded by a white glow, he was checking the surrounding.

The man walked to the magic circle where Angele and the other black shadow were hiding but it seemed like he did not notice any of them.

The man raised his hand and drew a white magic circle that looked like a starfish.

The gentle light from the white glowing lines brightened up chamber.

The man pushed circle forward and applied it to the other circle.

*Crack*

After the noise, the circle on the wall rotated and the amethyst released a flow of purple light after the rotation.

The purple light quietly went into the lines of the circle like mercury.

*WOO*

The magic circle made some noise and disappeared into the air after the lines were all brightened up by the purple light.

A black hole appeared at the original location of the circle.

The man hesitated for a second and entered the hole.

Angele waited for the man disappear into the hole. Seconds later, the black shadow transformed into some black smoke and entered the hole as well.

Angele did not expect that something like this would happen when he decided to explore the tomb at night. Also, he marked the hole when he was with the investigation team but he did not know that it was an entrance of a secret path.

He hesitated, but still approached the hole and peeked inside

It was dark inside the hole and black nails were lined up on the walls. Black smoke was coming out of those nails, it seemed like the nails were used to detect intruders.

'Well, do you really think those nails are good enough?' Angele shook his head. With a flick of his finger, a thin layer of black light appeared around his body. He started walking and passed through the tunnel with no problem.

It seemed like the hole was an entrance to a cave. A thick white spider web blocked the area in the front—however, it was torn apart in the middle.

The man that entered the cave first probably broke the web.

Angele moved through the web and entered a spacious bronze hall.

It was a large hall with a tall altar on the opposite side of the entrance. Two yellow light torches were burning on both sides of the altar.

The area not illuminated by the torches was still easily visible for some reason.

Angele noticed something was wrong as he entered the hall. He activated the illusion ability, his body twisted, and it looked like he became part of the wall.

He took out a yellow potion from the pouch, removed the stopper, and covered the mouth of the tube with his finger, only leaving a small gap by the edge.

The yellow potion slowly evaporated and the yellow gas leaked out of the tube. The gas surrounded Angele's body and helped him merge into the wall.

After everything was done, Angele looked at the two people that entered the hall before him.

The man with a pair of glowing white eyes stood beside the altar and it looked like he was searching for something.

On the altar, there was a long rectangular golden coffin with a dried black flower lying on it quietly. The man checked the area around the coffin, but did not find anything valuable. His sight fell upon the coffin and he tried to remove the lid of the coffin.

The black shadow was still hiding in the darkness without moving an inch; he looked like a stone statue, and his body had become the shadow itself.

Angele was wafting by the wall patiently.

Several minutes later, it seemed like the man failed to find the trick to opening the lid.

*Crack*

However, the coffin moved slightly on its own and made some loud noise.

The man was surprised, he took several steps back and stared at the coffin cautiously.

The coffin slowly opened; the noise made by the lid was hurting Angele's teeth.

*Boom*

The lid slid down to the ground and white dust was blown into the air.

*PA*

A dried black arm reached out from the coffin and tapped the edge of the coffin hard.

"Ha…" A mummy slowly sat up in the coffin and stared at the man. "Yrojus?"

The mummy opened his mouth and said a word in an unknown language with his hoarse voice. It sounded like he was warning the man.

The man hesitated for a second, but he still replied, "Kolintas!"

The mummy stared at the man as two balls of green light appeared in his rotten eyes. "Korus!" He suddenly started shouting and quickly jumped out of the coffin with a terrifying black axe in hand. A glowing dark-red crystal adorned the blade of the axe.

The mummy wasted no time and charged toward the man with a two-meter-long and one-meter-wide axe. The green light from the mummy's eyes was getting intense.

It seemed like the man's response was incorrect.

However, the man was prepared, he tossed a black potion onto the ground.

*BOOM*

A two-meter-tall black golem appeared in the dark smoke.

The golem was made of black bricks. It had a muscular body and a fist that had the size of a human's head. The golem roared and hit the mummy with its right fist.

The man took several steps back and chanted an incantation. Rays of white light were released from his hand, turning into vines, snakes, and black smoke—they all slowed the mummy down.

*BOOM*

The golem's fist landed on the mummy. The mummy was not prepared, and his forehead was damaged.

The mummy shook his head and roared. His axe landed on the stone golem's fist.

*CHI*

The stone golem's left arm was cut off; however, the broken bricks gathered at its wound and created a new arm.

The mummy started fighting against the golem, but he was slowed by the man's spells; it seemed like the mummy was enraged.

Also, the stone golem barely did any damage to the mummy, but its recovery speed was slowed down every time it took a hit.

It seemed like the man specialized in summoning spells. He took out two more potions and dropped them to the ground.

A yellow earth golem and an ice elemental appeared in the hall.

The earth golem looked identical to the stone golem, they both looked like two-meter-tall muscular men; however, the ice elemental looked like a girl with a body made of ice.

The ice elemental was floating in the air just above the ground. Every time the ice elemental stepped forward, frost would be left on the ground.

The man looked tired after summoning all the golems and the elemental. He almost fell to the ground.

Controlling two golems and one elemental at the same time could only be accomplished by wizards that were at least rank 3; also, it seemed like the man's summoning spells were modified.

The golems and the elemental kept attacking the mummy; however, it seemed like only the ice elemental's strike worked, and the mummy's movement was slowed down again.

The man stood there and consumed a potion, but he noticed that the mummy was not damaged at all. He hesitated and finally made up his mind. He took out a tiny red accessory that looked like it was crafted for a girl. The accessory was a crystal chained by a red metal string.

The man raised the accessory into the air and started chanting the incantation in a deep voice. Bright red light was released from the accessory several seconds later.

Angele hid by the wall and watched the fight. The stone golem was the strongest creature the man summoned. The strike made by the golem was enchanted with a special gravity field and it could deal around 300 degrees of damage; however, it did not work on the mummy. The earth golem and the ice elemental could only provide minimal support.

It seemed like the red accessory was one of the man's final resorts. The energy wave released by the accessory could easily deal more than 100 degrees of damage. If it was fully activated, the damage could reach 500 to 600 degrees—it was a large number even for a rank 3 wizard.

Intense red light exploded in the hall about one minute later, turning the man into a ball of red light.

Chapter 423: Unexpected (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

It seemed like the mummy feared the red light, he blocked it using the axe. However, the stone golem, earth golem, and the ice elemental were still attacking him constantly and he could barely hold the axe steadily.

White smoke rose from the mummy's hardened skin as the red light illuminated his body. The mummy was slowly ignited and started burning.

The mummy struggled in the red flame and charged to the man.

*BOOM*

The mummy exploded and turned into black mist, extinguishing the red light ball.

The tall man was blown away by the impact, he coughed several times and spat out some blood. He struggled and stood up and the golems disappeared as he waved his right hand. The ice elemental was left there as a bodyguard.

The man quickly walked to the location where the mummy exploded, he searched carefully and found a black key on the ground.

"Ha… Finally… Finally! I spent all those years just for this moment…" The man held the key in hand and chuckled, but it sounded like he was a bit depressed.

"You're right. Finally, I spent days stalking you… It was an unpleasant experience…" A high-pitched voice echoed in the hole; Angele was not sure if it was a man or a woman.

Angele noticed that the black shadow jumped out of the darkness and landed on the altar with black smoke around his body. The black shadow was glaring at the tall man.

"Mura, hand over the key. You activated the Red Lotus Pedant and I doubt there's anything you can do right now." The man took off the black robe, revealing a perfect face, large breasts, long legs, and slim waist. It was a woman that was extremely attractive.

The woman had a pretty face and a perfectly balanced body. It almost felt like she did not belong to this world.

"It's you…" Mura raised his head, he looked young with his pale face. However, part of his hair was already white, and he was probably much older than he looked.

"Yeah, I'm injured and I've activated the Red Lotus Pedant, but do you really think you can kill me?" Mura was calm and confident. "I knew that someone was following after me, but I didn't expect to see you here. Are you going after the secret treasure of the Destruction Eye?

The woman pursed her lips into a cold smile. "Of course, that's the only thing I want. It's late in the night, just hand over the key…" The smile disappeared from her face before she could finish the sentence.

She noticed that Mura took out another red crystal pendant.

"Seriously? Another one? You'll die if you activate it one more time!"

A bitter smile appeared on Mura's face. "It's my family's destiny. For generations, we've been pursuing the truth of the secret. I won't complain if I lose my life here."

It seemed like the woman was worried about the second red pendant Mura had and she decided to negotiate.

"Mura, don't you want to know how my sister is doing now? She was severely injured because of you!"

"That's why I tried so hard to find this key! The Life Root in the treasure trove will save Alicia's life and that's all I want!" Mura spoke in a serious tone.

"You're… serious about this?" The woman's expression loosened after hearing the word.

"Of course."

The woman stared at Mura in the eyes for several minutes and nodded slowly. "Alright, we shall open the treasure trove together. You can take the Life Root and I'll take the rest, what do you say?"

"Sure, Life Root is the only thing I need anyways." Mura nodded slightly. "Nothing matters if I can't wake Alicia up."

The woman stopped for a second, looked at Mura, and sighed deeply. "Alicia was sent to you as a spy… I have no idea how she fell in love with you… Let's move…"

Mura nodded, turned around, and walked to the wall behind the altar.

The woman followed after Mura, she was several meters behind him, and they stood in front of the wall together.

Mura carefully pressed the key on the wall, he did not insert it into any keyhole.

*Crack*

The key slowly sank into the wall.

Suddenly, the woman raised her right hand and tried to grab the key.

*BOOM*

Red light and black light exploded, the key was blown into the air. It rotated and hit the wall, flying to the other side of the hall.

"Aria!" Mura roared in the eye-blinding light, he was enraged.

"Ha, do you really think I'll trust you?" Aria sneered.

The key was still in the air and they charged to the key at the same time.

At that moment, Angele suddenly jumped forward and went after the key.

*PA*

Angele grabbed the key and held it in hand.

"Thanks for the gift; the treasure of the Destruction Eye, huh? It sure sounds like something that everyone will go after." Angele smiled.

He looked at Mura and Aria, however, the two had strange expressions on their faces. It felt like they were staring at a horrifying monster.

"You…" Angele's waist was hit before he could finish the sentence. He dropped the key and was blown away by the impact. He stopped after his forehead landed on the stone wall.

*BOOM*

Broken pieces of stones and dust splashed in the air.

The key rotated in the air and landed in a translucent man that had a blue body.

It was a translucent knight on the back of an armored horse that took the key.

The knight was wearing high-quality armor and the horse he was riding was also blue.

Strangely, the knight had no head and there was nothing over his neck. He held the rein in hand and there was white smoke spurting out of the horse's nose.

"Specter Knight Carmen…" Aria recognized the stranger.

"The key is mine now…" The knight had no mouth but could still speak. "The Destruction Eye is from the Oblivion Realm and it's a treasure that should only be taken by the undead."

The knight gripped the key and he noticed something was off. "Wait! This is a fake key!" he shouted.

"You! Hand over the key!" he roared at Mura.

"Carmen, when will learn to think? Use your brain…" A twisted shadow appeared by the spider web and turned into a slim man that was covered with darkness.

The man's eyes were covered with a light green glow and the rest of his body was completely dark. He looked like a human-shaped playdough ball.

The specter knight stared at the shadow and shouted again, "Saruto!"

"Shadow Lich Saruto…" Aria's face turned pale. "Did you follow us here?"

The lich named Saruto chuckled. "Of course, without the guardians, how can we find this place? Alright, hand over the real key."

Mura was pressured by the two strong opponents' mentality waves. His face turned even paler as his body was weak. "There's only one real key, but there are three of you, whom should I hand the key over to?"

"We're not going to fall for your trap." The lich laughed. "Also, you, over there, do you really think you can fool me?" He looked at the broken wall on the other side.

*BOOM*

A man stood up from a pile of broken stone pieces. His black robe was broken but his long red hair was eye-catching. The man's face was blurred by some strange mist. It was Angele who was blown away by the specter knight's strike.

"I thought you forgot about me. Alright then." It seemed like Angele was not injured at all. "You'll pay for what you have done." He stared at the specter knight.

Angele's attack damage was relatively low, but with the buff from the true form, his attributes were greatly increased even in the main world. During the competition held by the Dark Wizard Tower, he won the fight against a rank 4 wizard with the concept gear. Also, Angele's attributes were increased again by practicing the Sound of the Knell. He was confident that he could at least survive an intense battle against strong opponents.

Angele was probably stronger than a top rank 3 wizard but slightly weaker than a rank 4 wizard if everything was taken into consideration.

Also, the specter knight and the Shadow Lich were both weaker than a rank 4 wizard. Although they looked strong, Angele was certain that he had a chance to win. There were not many rank 4 wizards after all.

Angele wanted to make them think that he was severely injured so he could just wait for the battle to end.

Mura took out another black key and held it in hand. A mocking smile appeared on his face. "Well, again, whom should I hand the key over to?"

"Hand it to me and I guarantee that I'll let you live!" the specter knight spoke the first.

Shadow Lich chuckled again. "I'll kill you if you don't give me the key."

Angele glared at the two and pursed his lips into a smile. "Don't mind me. I was just passing by. I suggest that we open the treasure trove and share the treasure. We don't even know what's in the trove and there's no point for us to fight."

Aria stood beside Mura, they had already decided to work together. They were rank 3 wizards, but they had no chance against three strong opponents that were all close to rank 4 wizards.

When a wizard was one rank above another, the difference in power would be huge, and it was nearly impossible for a weak wizard to even cast a spell when he was pressured by the mentality wave of a strong wizard. The only way for him to fight back was by ambushing or casting top-level secret spells.

In a one-versus-one situation, a wizard with elemental mentality wave could easily kill a wizard that was one rank below him.

Wizards at rank 3 would spend years trying to progress if they had lower talent levels.

The only problem was that Mura and Aria probably had final resort-kind of trump cards to use during a life-threatening situation.

Chapter 424: Result (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

The situation was awkward, all of them stopped talking and it seemed like they were waiting for a chance to take the key from Mura.

Angele stood on the right side of the hall with a gentle smile on his face.

He looked at the specter knight and the shadow lich, finally opening his mouth.

"What do you say? Don't you think my plan is valid?"

"Ha, it's hard to execute. Who shall keep the key and open the trove? We need to be careful with the guardians. What if he can activate traps using the key?" Shadow Lich chuckled.

"Well, I can assure you that the key can't activate any traps," the specter knight interrupted. "Let's just open the trove together. I agree with what he said, we should fight after we see the actual treasure."

"How do you know there is no trap in the trove?" Shadow Lich glared at the knight. "Will you take the responsibility if there's a problem?"

The knight did not respond to the Shadow Lich, he just stared at Mura and Aria.

"It's true," Aria added; she was standing beside Mura. "The key can't activate any traps, I'm certain because Alicia told me about it before."

"Using a key to activate traps doesn't sound practical," Angele agreed.

Shadow Lich glanced around. "Alright then, let's go with that plan. So, who'll be the one to open the trove?"

"You're the one who's worrying about the key. Why don't you go and open the trove," Angele said.

"Sure, hand the key to me then." Shadow Lich stepped forward and looked at Mura.

Mura looked at Angele and the specter knight. He gritted his teeth and spoke, "I'll do that myself and the only thing I need is the Life Root. I'll swear on the souls of my ancestors." He knew that he would be eliminated if he handed the key to any of the three.

He still had a chance to live since everyone was going after the treasure.

Angele, Shadow Lich, and the specter knight started trusting Mura after hearing his words. The swears made on the wizards' ancestors would actually work in this world. If a wizard broke his oath, his bloodline would be severely impacted. The wizard world was all about the bloodlines so such swear was usually trustable. No one wanted to weaken their families' bloodlines.

"Alright, he swore on his ancestors and we should respect that. I have another suggestion, actually." A smile appeared on Angele's face. "Mura, that's your name, right?"

Mura nodded. "Yes, master, what suggestion do you have?"

Angele stood there and took out a blue potion from his pouch.

"This is a special potion that could kill you instantly if I want to. It's like a timed explosive seed that's placed in your body. We'll all apply something like this to you so we can kill you if you activate any trap when opening the treasure trove. That way, we won't have anything to worry about."

"Ha, that's a good idea." Shadow Lich laughed. "Young man, I like how you handle things."

The specter knight snorted. "What can you do without those machinations?"

"Fool!" The smile disappeared from Shadow Lich's face.

"What do you think? Will you take my suggestion?" Angele was not concerned, he just looked at Mura.

Mura hesitated and nodded slowly. "Fine, however, you need to understand that I have the key in hand, and there are traps that only I know how to avoid in the trove. If you kill me, it's unlikely that you'll make it to the treasure," he warned.

"Sure, we'll make sure the things we applied on you won't kill you right away." Angele smiled. "Things will be easier if you're the one who handles the key."

"Alright."

The others had nothing against Angele's suggestion.

Angele threw the potion into the air. The glass tube rolled several times on the ground and stopped by Mura's feet. "Just drink it. You'll be fine."

Shadow Lich threw a black cursed doll to Mura. "Just carry it with you."

The scepter knight hesitated for a second, but he still threw a translucent blue heart to Mura. "Break the heart with your right index finger. I hate scheming people. This is the only thing I have and you'd better not lie to me."

Mura looked at the three items that were lying on the ground quietly. He waited for the three to check the items with their own mentality waves. They wanted to make sure that those items would not kill Mura instantly or make him into a puppet.

Mura picked up the items after the three checked the items and followed their instructions.

He dropped the empty glass tube to the ground and looked at the three calmly. "Happy now?"

"Yeah." Shadow Lich nodded, he looked satisfied.

Angele and the scepter knight had nothing to say.

Mura turned around and walked to the wall with the key in hand.

He pressed the key on the wall.

*Crack*

A large black vortex appeared in the center of the wall after the noise. The vortex looked like it was filled with black mud.

The yellow wall had melted and turned black, revealing an empty hole behind.

The hole was an entrance to a spacious solutional cave.

There were large areas of blue glowing moss on the walls of the cave—they were the only source of light here. The whole cave looked blue under the light.

The green light in Shadow Lich's eyes started dancing after seeing the cave, it seemed like he was excited.

The scepter knight moved forward slightly on the back of his horse.

Angele glanced at the two. "Go ahead."

Mura entered the cave while being stared at by the three. Shadow Lich and the knight entered the cave after Mura; Angele was the last one.

Inside the spacious cave, there was a long black rock in the front that looked like a tooth of a beast.

The long black rock had the shape of an elephant's tooth. It separated the cave into two areas—the entrance was on one side, and a small pyramid was on the other.

There were four skeleton wands standing around the pyramid, surrounded by dark energy. On top of the pyramid, there was a square platform with a white eyeball floating over it.

The eyeball had a pupil of a cat and a diameter of about one meter. It was moving up and down.

Shadow Lich stared at the white eyeball as he entered the cave. "It's real. The treasure of the Destruction Eye… This is my destiny… I have the chance to break through now…" he muttered with a strange expression on his face.

Waves of blue light surrounded the specter knight's body. It seemed like he was thinking about something similar.

They suddenly realized what they should do. The knight charged forward and the Shadow Lich turned into black smoke—they were all moving to the white eyeball.

Angele stayed at the entrance and checked the pyramid.

'Henn, that's the item you were talking about?'

Henn responded immediately, 'Not the eyeball itself, it's something else that grows with the eyeball. The thing will appear after the eyeball is taken. You need to start moving now.'

'Alright.'

Angele turned into red flames and disappeared into the air as the conversation ended.

He moved about 30 meters within a second. Red light flashed again, he moved again—he was approaching the pyramid at full speed.

There were about 500 to 600 meters from the entrance to the pyramid. The knight was the fastest of the three and Angele was the slowest.

However, Angele and Shadow Lich's speed was increasing, they were catching up.

Mura and Aria moved to a small hole on the left. There were many holes in the wall and black boxes were sitting in those holes quietly. The size of the holes varied and there were rare items inside those boxes. The secret treasure of the Destruction Eye was not the only important thing here.

Mura and Aria knew that they had no chance to take the rarest item and they decided to go for the other items they wanted.

Life Root was not considered as a rare item in a ruin like this, so it was very likely that the root was stored in one of those boxes.

The three were approaching the pyramid. The scepter knight activated some secret technique and his speed doubled when Angele was about to catch up. He was the first one that stepped on the pyramid.

*Neigh*

White smoke spurted out of the horse's nose as the beast took the knight to the top of the pyramid like wind.

"Victory to the warriors!" the knight roared and lowered his body. He grabbed the large eyeball and held it in his arms.

Shadow Lich's expression changed as he saw the knight taking the eyeball. He arrived at the platform and pointed down.

There was a tiny pool that was filled up with red liquid there—it could only be seen when the observer was standing on the platform.

Shadow Lich pointed at the pool and the red liquid flew to him, sinking into a red rune on the back of his right hand. He chuckled and charged at the specter knight after collecting the liquid.

Angele was the last one that reached the platform and there was nothing left. He stared at the back of Shadow Lich with a serious expression on his face.

'I reached my maximum speed but they were still faster than me… It only took them several seconds to get to the platform.'

'The liquid is what I'm looking for! It seems like you won't be able to catch them,' Henn's voice echoed in Angele's ears. 'I should probably do it myself.'

Chapter 425: Result (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele opened his mouth and was about to say something, but raised his right arm unconsciously.

A ray of blue light was released from his finger, disappearing into the air.

'Henn?'

Angele adjusted his mentality frequency and tried to communicate with Henn, but there was no response.

Henn left Angele's body and started chasing Shadow Lich.

Angele stood on the platform quietly for a while and a smile appeared on his face.

He jumped off the pyramid.

*BAM*

The pyramid was about five meters tall, mud and mosses splashed in the air as he landed on the ground.

He wiped the dust off his outfit and threw the broken robe away. He slowly walked to the rock that separated the pyramid from the entrance.

The rock was covered with mud, it was more than 300 meters long and 10 meters wide. It almost looked like a small hill.

Angele stood on the hill and looked at the mud-covered rock.

'The treasure of Destruction Eye might be valuable to them, but what hides under here will aid me greatly. The waves released by the bloodline has already told me that… this is the best bloodline I can use…' Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes.

Raising his right hand, he slammed down.

*BAM*

A translucent energy wave exploded over the hill and created a hole that was about ten meters deep. At the bottom of the hole, there was a bone with a metallic texture.

Under the elephant tooth-shaped hill, it was a bone from an unknown creature.

Angele was the only one who could see what was under the hole. There was a lively black-red color on the surface of the enormous bone and he could see some tiny red blood veins on the bone; however, the bone had been exposed to the air for so long that some of the veins had already dried out.

Angele jumped into the hole and landed on the bone without any problem.

He crouched and rubbed the bumpy surface of the bone slowly and a confused look appeared on his face.

'It's a creature that's not recorded in the sacred book.' Angele learned a lot about the ancient creatures after acquiring Erin's Funeral Oration. The database in the biochip had been greatly improved. However, a random bone in the main world could not be matched with any creature in the database. It was quite surprising.

Angele was not concerned, he slowly drew a sharp dagger from his belt. The dagger was covered with tiny thorns. It was a tool he crafted to help him extract blood faster when necessary.

He carefully drew a strange rune over the dagger and chanted the incantation he learned from the oration. It was a skill that would help him absorb the blood of the creatures he found.

The skill would help the original inheritor of the oration to improve his bloodline with the bloodline essence of other creatures. The better a bloodline he could find, the purer his bloodline would become.

Angele had the biochip and it would help him improve his bloodline; however, the original inheritor of the oration had to rely on the skill to make his bloodline purer.

The impurities in the bloodline would weaken all the bloodline power he had; also, it was possible that the impurities would make him sick. There was a special disease that was caused by the impurities in the bloodline.

Most of the ancient races in the Nightmare Realm had secret techniques like the funeral oration. Angele decided to just take what he could use from the oration and the bloodline extraction technique was one such thing.

Angele held the dagger in hand and rotated it several times. It seemed like he hesitated.

'The oration states that this technique was refined multiple times, however...' He looked at the sharp tip of the dagger.

'Only half of the mentality that I usually need will be consumed with this technique; also, my body will absorb the bloodline better…'

Angele hesitated for a while and finally raised the dagger into the air. He spun the dagger several times and suddenly the blade blurred in the air.

*CHI*

Angele stabbed himself in the center of his brow. Half of the blade sank into the wound and it almost looked like the dagger pierced through his brain.

However, there was no blood spurting out of the wound made by the dagger.

The wound between his brow had already turned into some flowing liquid that looked like lava—the dagger was in its center.

*CHI*

Angele pulled the dagger out of the lava and a ray of red light was released from the wound.

Raising his head, Angele's eyes were surrounded by a red glow, and the red ray disappeared into the air after flying for several seconds.

Several minutes later, Angele crouched again with the dagger in his hand. He quickly stabbed the dagger into the bone.

The dagger turned into a pile of red liquid as it contacted the bone. The red liquid was absorbed by the bone within seconds.

The red light disappeared from Angele's head, the wound healed and it almost looked like nothing happened.

Angele then took out various materials from his pouch and lined them up on the ground. Most of the materials were bones from different creatures and the rest were roots of plants.

The materials melted and turned into piles of liquid that varied in color as they contacted the bone. The liquid was also absorbed by the bone.

Time passed, several minutes later, red light dots suddenly started spurting out of the bone.

The red light dots floated around Angele's body; they looked like fireflies rotating in the air. The light dots slowly gathered and turned into a red vortex.

More and more red light dots spurted out of the bone and surrounded Angele's body.

Angele raised his head and a large translucent shadow slowly appeared behind him.

It was a giant with two pairs of eyes and a long horn on top of his head. The giant was more than four meters long and his hair was dark red. The muscular body of the giant looked hard like rock.

The red light dots slowly moved to the shadow and they were slowly absorbed by the giant.

The situation lasted for more than ten minutes and the red light dots disappeared after that.

The shadow behind Angele disappeared as well. He lowered his head; he could feel a strong power that his body could barely handle.

'The refined true form… I'm almost there… This bloodline is so strong…' He looked at the bone. 'The remaining blood essence from this bone helped me complete the preparation of the true form refinement. I want to know how strong my true form has become after absorbing the essences.' It would take Angele a long time to acquire the bloodline power that was required for the true form refinement. It might take him more than 1000 years to finish the preparations and the bloodline he just absorbed shortened the period by couple hundred of years.

Angele had no idea what the creature was, but he was certain that the bone was just a small part of its body. Also, the bone was technically "alive" after all those years. He noticed that there was a weak mentality wave from the bloodline essence he absorbed.

The mentality wave was mixed in the red light dots. The wave did not deliver any information but Angele could feel the depression of the wave and he had memorized the wave pattern.

Angele jumped out of the deep hole and leaped forward. He slowly landed by the entrance.

*BOOM*

Angele heard something exploding from behind as he landed.

He turned his head around and saw the "hill" collapsing. The elephant-shaped hill turned into a pile of broken stones.

Dust was blown into the air and the whole cave was blurred by it.

*Cough Cough*

Angele could hear Mura and Aria coughing. White light flashed on the left side of the cave, it was the light made by an air purifying spell.

He waited quietly by the entrance of the cave and heard some strange noise coming from the other side of the cave.

A ray of blue light broke through the dust and landed in front of Angele, turning into a woman in a black dress. The woman rotated in the air, she looked elegant and mysterious with the flying skirt of her dress.

"Green…" The woman looked at Angele quietly and it seemed like she had no idea what she should say.

"You're leaving, right?" Angele smiled.

Henn nodded. "You and me both know how this will end, but I don't think I owe you anything after all those years."

"I understand. You're different. Unlike your opponent, you don't want to stay as a soul forever, so you don't really need me, and I'm not talented like Stigma," Angele spoke in a light tone.

"You don't want me to control your destiny, right? That old bastard probably knew this when she saw you the first time and that was the reason why she selected Stigma… I lost the battle after all..." Henn sighed, she sounded a bit depressed.

"See you then." Angele chuckled, turned around, and started heading to the exit. "We're clear."

Henn watched Angele disappear into the exit and sighed again. She turned into a ray of blue light and disappeared into the air.

They were just using each other from the beginning, but Angele learned a lot from Henn, and Henn probably treated him as a student. However, neither had revealed their real thoughts.

No matter what happened in the future, the complicated relationship between Angele and Henn would slowly be resolved by time. However, Angele would help Henn one more time if she needed, and Henn would do that for Angele too.

Henn never apologized for what she did to him and Angele betrayed Henn so many times, but they were just acting like wizards. Wizards were selfish and they would do anything to pursue their goals.

Chapter 426: Enlightenment (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

In a random cave of the tomb.

There was a ball-shaped shadow twisting in the darkness.

The shadow moved on the floor like flowing water and it slowly stopped by the exit of the cave. The shadow started transforming and turned into a humanoid being several seconds later.

It was a man with a pale face and two balls of burning green flames in his eyes. The blue light from the glowing moss illuminated his face—it was Shadow Lich, he was the one who took the liquid in the pool.

The aggressiveness had already disappeared from Shadow Lich's face, he was checking the surroundings constantly, and it seemed like he was trying to stay away from someone.

"That woman finally left…" Shadow Lich's expression loosened. A woman with terrifying power found him after he took the liquid and he was attacked before he realized it. The energy wave the woman released was so strong that Shadow Lich could barely release his mentality wave. It felt like there were countless daggers stabbing into his body when he was stared at by the woman's eyes.

Shadow Lich noticed that the woman was going after his liquid and quickly dropped the container on the ground—he would have been dead if he had not do that.

Shadow Lich pressed his chest and the flames in his eyes started dancing. He untied his black robe, revealing an arched golden dagger that was stabbed in the center of his chest. The dagger was coated with wiggling gray maggots.

It was the strongest ability Shadow Lich had, the Maggot Dagger. Wizards below rank 4 would not stand a chance against this dagger. The magic maggots would devour the wizards with an open wound made by the dagger. Also, the magic maggots could deal strong damage to the soul forms.

Shadow Lich had eliminated two soul forms alone with the power of the dagger.

Only a small number of the soul forms were once human beings in the wizard world, the rest of them were all wizards. Soul forms usually had mysterious and strong power. Shadow Lich would not be able to kill them without the dagger.

'I was trapped in the illusion after exchanging eye contact with that woman; also, it seems like I tried to kill myself with the strongest ability I have.' Shadow Lich tried to calm himself down. 'It's great that the woman was also going after the eyeball. The specter knight stands no chance against her, ha, the eyeball is the most valuable thing in this tomb.'

Shadow Lich realized that the specter knight might be eliminated; he was happy that he was not the only one who suffered.

He checked his body and released a lot of black smoke. The black smoke quickly surrounded his body. He took out a lot of random potions from his pouch.

Shadow Lich's expression turned serious after he finished several potions. It was the first time he was injured by his own ability.

The maggots inside his body were not cleared by the antidotes. Fortunately, Shadow Lich's body was pretty much the same as a zombie and he was the owner of the dagger... otherwise, the maggots would have already devoured him.

Lowering the potions, Shadow Lich carefully cut the skin on his right arm open, and removed a small metal button from his arm.

The black button cracked after he applied some force—inside was some glowing powder.

Shadow Lich saved the powder for the worst situation, but he had to use it. He dumped the powder into his mouth and swallowed it quickly.

"Who's there?!"

Green light flashed in his eyes as he turned around.

Some intense noise made by the hooves echoed in the air, the specter knight charged to him with blue light surrounding his body. The knight slowed down as he saw Shadow Lich in the front.

"Shadow Lich, what happened to you…" The specter knight was not injured at all and he was laughing at Shadow Lich.

Shadow Lich was surprised after hearing the word. "What?! Where's that woman? Didn't she go for you?"

"Woman? What woman?" The specter knight was confused. "You mean there's another stranger in the tomb?"

Shadow Lich's expression turned serious, his sight fell upon the left side of the specter knight's neck. There was a white eyeball that looked like a smaller version of Destruction Eye's secret treasure.

"You've already placed it in your body…"

"Of course." The specter knight laughed proudly and he shook his neck slightly. "I'm so lucky this time. I got the secret treasure and now, I can probably take you off, my old friend…"

Desperation filled up Shadow Lich's eyes after he noticed that the specter knight was about to strike.

"Let's trade! I still have my treasure!"

"I'm not interested in that treasure you have. However…" The specter knight started advancing on the back of his horse.

"I'm severely injured but it doesn't mean I can't try and kill you! Come at me if you want to die!" The green flames in his eyes weakened as he finished the sentence.

"Machinations again? Are you lying about your injury?" The scepter knight stopped and hesitated after hearing the word.

"Why're you hesitating? You're here to kill me, right? I'll die in one hit, but I won't let you leave so easily…" Shadow Lich tried to make himself look even weaker. The powder was helping him recover his power and a fifth of his strength had already returned to his body.

The powder was an extremely expensive drug he purchased and it could help his dying body recover. He spent half of the magic stones he had and acquired the powder. It was totally worth the money.

The weaker he looked, the more the specter knight would hesitate.

The atmosphere was intense.

Shadow Lich snorted. "Don't waste my time if you don't want to fight. I need to find the woman and get my item back."

"Whatever! I don't care if you're injured or not, let's just fight! I can retreat if I can't win!" The specter knight decided not to think too much about the situation and charged to Shadow Lich.

Shadow Lich was a bit speechless. A black magic circle appeared on his hand.

*BOOM*

The specter horse charged into the black light.

The noise echoed in the tomb and the ground was shaking.

　　*************************

"Mura, are you alright?" In a secret chamber of the tomb, Mura was lying on the ground with his eyes covered with a white glow. Aria was standing beside him with a brown wooden box in hand.

"I'm… I'm fine…" Mura's situation was getting worse every minute.

His body was cold and covered with white frost. It was the effect of the heart from the specter knight.

A large blister appeared on his left leg and there was a tiny puppet stretching his back slowly.

Mura's lips turned purple and there was a rotten smell in his mouth, which meant that his organs were damaged. They were impacted by Angele's potion.

Three different power was merging in Mura's body. He could easily remove one debuff with Mira's help, however, they had no way to deal with three secret techniques that were developed by three top-level rank 3 wizards. The three powers were attacking and merging into each other.

Also, Mura survived the impact of the three powers for some reason. He used all his mentality wave to cancel out the energy waves released by the three powers and he could die at any time.

Mura was pretty much a normal human being at the moment as he could not release mentality wave from his body. He had to prepare for the possible changes if the three powers merged.

"Go back with the Life Root and put it under Alicia's head. Make sure you do it properly. Also, just take whatever you want from this tomb…"

Aria hesitated, she looked at the dying man. "What about you?"

"It's probably a perfect ending for me to die here…" Mura's eyes were open but he could not see anything, the frost had frozen his lacrimal glands and he could not roll his eyeballs. "Tell Alicia I escaped with the best secret treasure alone and no one will be able to find me. Also, tell her that I never loved her, she's a rude and ugly girl. I've left this land with my true love… To a place that no one knows…"

*BOOM*

The tomb shook again.

The secret chamber started collapsing.

"This place is getting destroyed… Run now… I think those wizards already forgot about us." Mura raised his head and he sounded weak.

Aria looked at Mura quietly and held the wooden box tight. "I'll not tell her the words you said. It's juts… not fair!" She turned around and walked to the stone wall.

*CHI*

Aria walked into the stone and disappeared.

　　************************

The specter knight rushed out of the cave at full speed and there was a pale head sitting quietly on his neck. It was the head of Shadow Lich and there were blue flames dancing in his eyes.

"Today is truly my lucky day! Ha!" The specter knight rushed out of the cave. "Shadow Lich is a fool! The Elemental Hand is a fool! Mura is a fool! All the people who entered the tomb are fools! Everything is mine now! And they say I'm dumb. Where're they now!" He laughed and went through the tunnel, quickly approaching the exit.

Outside the ruin, it was early in the morning and the sun was about to rise.

The forest was blurred by some gray mist; some of the objects could be seen clearly, but the visibility was still low in the area.

The specter knight charged out of the tomb and jumped over the purple magic circle on the ground without any problem. He landed in the dark forest quietly.

The knight slowed down after advancing for a while in the forest.

"Linda, I'm back. I've found the items I want and we should leave now! The Elemental Hand is still going after us!" Blue glow flashed on the knight's hand and he was sending a message.

"Linda?" He noticed something was off. The communication was slowly disappearing and the blue glow was extremely weak.

No one responded in the forest.

"Are you looking for this woman?" A slim man walked out of the shadow and questioned in a calm voice. The man had long red hair trailing over his shoulders—it was Angele. His face was still blurred by energy particles.

The mist started disappearing as Angele stepped forward. Translucent heat waves were being released from his body.

The specter knight named Carmen trembled and his sight fell upon the tree beside Angele.

"Linda…" His voice turned deep.

A black shovel slashed a beautiful woman's face in half and she was pinned on the trunk of the tree. Her blood created a small pool on the ground.

It was a woman with blonde hair and the long wound looked terrifying on her face. It seemed like she was killed when sleeping as her eyes were tightly closed.

Chapter 427: Enlightenment (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele was standing on the left of the dead woman with a smile on his face.

"This is a random shovel I found at a farm nearby and killing her was not my intention. I was just playing with the shovel and she was somehow pinned to the tree by it." Actually, Angele drugged the woman with the sleeping powder that drugged Lyn before.

"What have you done… Damn!" Carmen was so angry that he could barely talk. He roared and there was white smoke coming out of his horse's nose. The horse was about to charge forward.

"You killed my only apprentice! I'll kill you!" the specter knight roared.

*BAM*

The knight disappeared with his horse.

The specter knight was blown away with his horse after the noise. They rotated in the air and hit the ground.

*BAM BAM BAM*

The noise of trees falling was loud. They took down around five to six enormous trees in the air.

*WOO*

A ball of red flame appeared above the knight and his horse, turning into Angele's body.

The red hair flew to the knight like countless red needles.

*CHI*

The specter knight's sight blurred and turned into darkness.

*Crack*

Frost waves with a diameter of around 30 meters slowly expanded in the forest. Everything that contacted the wave was covered with blue frost.

The whole area turned in to an ice world.

A gray squirrel was surprised by the changes and fell from the tree. Its tail touched the blue frost slightly.

*KA*

The squirrel was frozen and turned into an ice statue. The ice statue then cracked and turned into numerous bloody ice cubes, falling to the grasses.

Angele's body was coated with the white frost. He stepped out of the area and slowly sat down by a tree.

He grabbed his right shoulder with the left hand and pulled it forward hard.

*KATA*

The joint made some light noise and he could finally move again.

*Cough*

Angele's face was pale. 'If the knight didn't fight the Shadow Lich and was almost killed, my ambush wouldn't be so successful… The guy was strong even without his talent ability…

'He didn't expect that I could move so fast and I was almost killed by his last resort,' Angele thought. The specter knight's last resort had low damage, but the frost aura was horrifying. It seemed like the frost could damage his body, mentality, and soul.

His body was not severely damaged, but his shoulder dislocated when he attacked the knight. Also, the last resort the knight had was quite strong even though Angele's attributes were much higher than before.

Angele's body was freezing and he could feel the frost climbing up his feet. It had to be a strong secret technique.

*Cough Cough*

'Zero, check my condition,' Angele could not stop coughing.

'Analyzing your condition…

'Unknown force field detected. Ice damage. Currently, it's impossible for you to handle the impact.

'Your attributes: Strength 20.2 (was 49). Agility 9.2 (was 11.5). Stamina 21.0 (71). Mentality 214.7. Mana 210.1. Gene limit not reached. Status: Unknown.' The frost aura lowered Angele's attributes by a lot.

Also, Angele's Stamina was over 32 when he was not in the true form but it was lowered to 21 at the moment.

A bitter smile appeared on Angele's face. 'An unknown frost aura? I should've been more careful… I had several protective energy shields around my body but they didn't work. Top-level rank 3 wizards are no joke.'

Angele activated all his barriers but he was still injured. Without the shields, he would probably be killed by the frost aura.

He stopped thinking and took out a small white eyeball. 'Anyway, the trip to the tomb was worth it. I hope this thing is as strong as they said…'

Angele understood that the higher his rank was, the slower his injury would recover. If he could find out the source of the frost aura, he could probably find a way to deal with it. However, it would take him years to recover if he failed to find the source.

*BOOM*

It sounded like something exploded in the distance. It seemed like the tomb was collapsing and the earth was shaking.

Angele stood up and looked at the entrance of the tomb. White dust was blown into the air, and the tomb completely collapsed. He realized that Mura and Aria were still in the tomb. He wondered if they made it out.

However, Mura's body was damaged by the things they gave him. Angele looked at the tomb and stood in the forest for a while.

'He's too weak to control his own destiny.'

Angele turned around and disappeared into the flames.

　　***********************

Five days later. At night.

By the edge of the central continent. The Abyss Canyon.

On the yellow plain, a ray of black light rose from the center of the Abyss Canyon. The ray shot into the sky and landed on a cliff by the canyon.

The light ray had a diameter of two meters and slowly disappeared after about one minute, revealing a tall man that was standing on the cliff.

"Finally… I finally found him…" It was a woman with a high-pitched voice, she was roaring.

The moonlight shined upon the woman's body and her appearance was a bit terrifying.

The woman was wearing a humongous black armor, but her head looked like a young girl with a pair of soulless eyes.

It looked like a robot with a young girl's head on top. The woman just looked weird in that suit.

The long gray hair trailed over the woman's shoulders and there was no light in her soulless eyes. "Terry… I'll avenge you…"

*CHI CHI*

She created a large black trident that was surrounded by sparking black pulses in the air.

The heavy trident looked like a weapon in her hand. She waved the trident several times and dropped it to the ground. The trident was so heavy that it left a hole beside her feet.

The woman turned into a shadow and disappeared into the darkness quietly.

Blood filled up the small hole made by the trident.

　　***********************

In the mansion beside the Ness River.

Angele sat by the fireplace with a red blanket on his feet. His body was still cold and he tried to get some warmth from the fireplace. The man's skin was pale and the light from the fireplace illuminated his eyes.

Two maids were waiting quietly in the living room—they were ready to add more firewood to the fireplace.

The temperature in the living room was high and the two maids' bodies were coated with some unstable white light. The light was from some low-level enchanted items, but they were still sweating.

Also, the firewood Angele purchased was made with a tree called Bronze Fire. The tree was rare and the firewood was sold for over 1000 regular magic stones per piece in the market. However, it could only last around one hour in Angele's fireplace. Magic stones were not a problem to Angele, Vivian would give him as many as he wanted. Also, Angele earned a lot of resources from the Dark Wizard Tower, and there was no point for him to save too many magic stones.

That was the reason why Angele decided to purchase the most expensive firewood.

The room was filled up with the wood fragrance of the firewood. There were also some strange energy waves in the room that were stopping Angele from freezing.

He compared the materials in the database—those items were perfect for his injury.

"Sadly… None of the material is super effective…" Angele exhaled deeply, his freezing breath was about one meter long, and it slowly merged into the heat waves.

'The frost won't melt in normal flames. The firewood made with the Bronze Heart can barely do it.' Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes.

Angele's Stamina was still decreasing and the ice damage was getting worse. He tried to fight the frost using the unknown energy from the eyeball. Although the energy from the eyeball was stronger than the frost energy, the eyeball could not heal his injury.

He tried to find materials that could help him fight against the frost damage, but the only thing that worked was the firewood made with the Bronze Heart. The Bronze Heart was a branch of the Dark Mother tree, and the ingredient that could heal him in the firewood was discovered by Angele, so he named it as Greenfin. It was part of his name.

The ingredient was rare in the trees; although they could deal with the frost, the progression was way too slow. It would take him hundreds of years to heal at this rate.

Angele tried to enter the Nightmare Realm and solve the problem using his true form. However, his high attributes with the true form could only stop him from feeling cold, the true form could not completely heal him.

Angele realized that the last resort the knight activated was something with a background after he tried to heal the frost damage using his true form.

Dark Mother was a tree that would only grow in the underground world. The tree was considered as a holy tree by the underground races. There was a total of 15 dark mother trees in the underground world. The tree had a life circle of 1000 years. From a seed to an enormous tree, their life cycle never ended, and their number would not increase or decrease.

The branches of the dark mother trees were considered legendary materials for the races that lived on the land. The underground races would use the branch right away if they someone get their hands on it and the modern wizards had never actually seen the branch.

The branch was extremely rare even for the underground races.

A strong item usually had something that could counter it in this world or the food chain would be damaged. It was a universal rule that every realm had.

The frost damage might be related to the dark mother trees or the underground races.

Angele sat by the fireplace and checked the data he collected.

"Maybe I should find the solution through Dark Wizard Tower. Those elites I selected are probably ready to work. If they can do whatever I say, my life will be much easier…" Angele sighed.

He was certain that the specter knight had explored the underground world, otherwise, the knight would not be able to know such a strong secret technique.